St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-07
A WARRINGTON CASE.
Mr. EmmOns Says His Wife is Crazy.
and She Declares He rs UnfaiIhfuI
10 Her.

nr. E mmOns Says His Wife is Crazy,
and She Declares He is UnfaiIhfuI
Her.
WASHINGTON, Jan. Elm response to
the writ of de lunatico inquirenGo issued
by Judge James, upon a petition of Prof
Emmons, jury met to-day to try the
question of the sanity of Mrs. Emmons,
whose eccentricities here and in Europe
have recently been the subject of much
newspaper comment. Prof. Emmons was
represented by Linden Kent as counsel,
and Mrs. Emmons by II. w. Garnett. Mr..
Kent made
THE OPENING ADDRESS
to the jury in which he reviewed at length
Mr.. and Mrs. Emmons' married life. Mrs.
EmmOns, he said, soon after her marriage
began to show distressing symptoms of
epilepsy, and as long ago as 1882 she ex-
hibited eccentricities which led her friends
to believe that her mind was unsound.
After her return from Europe in 1884, she
Would send for physicians and then dismiss
them. She accused Dr.. Wales of trying to
poison her, and said she knew the walls
contained poison because when she threw
them into the fire they made a blue smoke.
She also accused her husband of trying to
poison her by letting sewer gas into the
house. She pretended that the spirit of a
colored child enabled her to foretell the
future. She saw also
HER MOTHERS SPIRIT
at night going to the figure of the blessed
virgin. Mrs. Emmons' commitment to-
the Bloomingdale insane asylum was, Mr..
Kent said, a step rendered necessary by her
condition. and one taken upon the sworn
statements OF physicians of the highest
professional standing. Mr.. Kent closed
his address with review of Mrs. Emmons'
recent lite abroad and her return to Amer
lea. which has been described in the news
papers. Mr.. Garnett, addressing the iury
on behalf of Mrs. Emmons, said that he
appeared in this case as the result of an
appeal from DIR. Lincoln to save this
woman from an insane asylum. He said
he would show that the actions of Mrs,
Emmons at the various times referred to
were not regarded as insane by other peo-
pie. He would also show that this charge
of insanity was not made until after Mrs.
Emmons had discovered that her husband
was unfaithful to her. In June. 1884, she
found woman in Philadelphia with whom
her husband had had relations, and she
purchased from this woman some of Mr..
Emmons' letters. He would show that if
was one of the conditions of the agreement
of separation made in 1885. that she should
surrender these letters. She did surrender
them, and it was.
A SIGNIFICANT FACT
that these proceedings to have her adiudged
insane began at that time. ''Then,n said
Mr.. Garnett. ''Emmons had the letters and
she had lost her control. If he had put her
into madhouse who would believe her
story of his infidelity?" Mr. Garnett re-
viewed the circumstances OF Mrs. Emmons,
commitment to an asylum and her release,
and said that when he returned to Wash.
ington in September, 1886, she began pro-.
ceedings to have her sanity established.
On Oct. 13, 1886, she was declared bysthe
court OF the district sane woman. and all
that this jury had to do was to decide
whether or not she had become insane since
that time. At the conclusion of the address
to the jury Mrs. Edward DeCormis. who
was Mrs. Emmons' travelling companion
during her recent trip to Europe, was called
as the first witness.